Jane Austen

by Valerie Grosvenor Myer

  I have not mentioned my dear mother; she suffered much for me when I was at the worst, but is tolerably well. Miss Lloyd too has been all kindness. In short, if I live to be an old woman I must expect to wish I had died now, blessed in the tenderness of such a family, and before I had survived either them or their affection. You would have held the memory of your friend Jane too in tender regret I am sure. But the Providence of God has restored me …

  Jane was hiding her head in the sand. The removal to Winchester was a doomed search for health. A relative of their own medical man had a high reputation and Jane put herself under the care of this doctor, Giles King Lyford, surgeon in ordinary at the county hospital. The case was never very hopeful. Mr Lyford told James’s wife Mary that Jane’s illness might be lingering, or that the end might be sudden. He was afraid there would be agony at the end.

  Jane found the journey less tiring than she expected but fretted over Henry and William, who accompanied her on horseback, riding in the rain. She and her sister lodged at 8 College Street, which was a narrow picturesque lane, with small old-fashioned houses on one side, terminating in the ancient stone buildings of the famous public school. The house had a neat little drawing room with a bow window overlooking a garden with waving trees, the red roofs of the Cathedral Close and the grey cathedral towering over them. Now in private hands, and painted yellow outside, the house in College Street bears a plaque saying that Jane died there. A handwritten note in the window explains that it is not open to the public.

  They were visited nearly every day by the widowed Mrs Elizabeth Heathcote and her sister Alethea Bigg of Manydown, who were living for the time in the Close. Harris Bigg-Wither had inherited Many-down in 1813. Mrs Heathcote‘s son was at Winchester College, and to be near him she rented a house from one of the cathedral canons. She visited Jane every day, but Alethea had soon ‘frisked off, like half England, to Switzerland’, as Jane wrote enviously. When Mrs Heathcote died, she owned copies of all Jane’s novels.

  Jane by this time lived chiefly on the sofa, able to walk no further than from one room to another. She went out once in a sedan chair and looked forward to going out in a wheelchair when the weather grew warmer but this hope was never fulfilled. Cassandra was a tireless and loving nurse, helped out by James’s wife Mary. Mary had often got on Jane’s nerves but now Jane told her, ‘You have always been a kind sister to me, Mary.’ Jane seemed to be recovering, and Mary went home.

  On 12 June, James wrote to his son James-Edward to tell him there was no hope for ‘your dear valuable Aunt Jane’. Mr Lyford had candidly told them all her case was desperate. ‘I need not say what a melancholy gloom this has cast over us all. Your grandmama has suffered much, but her affliction can be nothing to Cassandra’s. She will indeed be to be pitied. It is some consolation to know that our poor invalid has hitherto felt no severe pain…’

  Jane knew she was dying. One of her last letters has been mutilated by the family. A paragraph dealing with ‘domestic disappointment’ which did not ‘concern the public’ was suppressed. They allowed an expression of ‘her characteristic sweetness and resignation’ to stand:

  But I am getting too near complaint. It has been the appointment of God…

  In health Jane was often tart and impatient, but now she suffered considerable pain she bore it bravely, resolutely keeping cheerful out of consideration for those around her. Henry and James, both clergymen, visited constantly to give her Holy Communion. Charles arrived on 13 June and was shocked to find Jane so ill. On 16 June he rode to Chaw-ton on Henry’s horse and found his mother poorly. Charles went back to Winchester on top of the coach on 18 June and found Jane better. Next day he saw her twice and in the evening left again, knowing he had seen his sister for the last time. Frank, whose wife had recently had a seventh baby, did not come but stayed home to comfort his mother. Edward also went to their mother.

  On 27 June, Jane seemed better again and Mary, who had returned to nurse her, went home to Steventon. She told Caroline that Jane was resigned and composed, a believing Christian, though she had everything to live for. She was just learning to feel confidence in her own success. A few days later Cassandra sent for Mary again, as the paid nurse kept falling asleep. Mary, Cassandra and a maid nursed Jane in shifts.

  On 9 July Jane received £15 from Hoare’s bank, still trading today, where her father had had an account. This sum was interest due on her investment in navy stock.

  July 15 is St Swithin’s day. St Swithin was a local saint, Bishop of Winchester from AD 852. An old superstition, still current in England within living memory, says that if it rains on that day the wet weather will continue for forty days and forty nights. That year it was the date of a race-meeting, and Jane dictated a comic verse about the incongruity of horse-races on a saint’s day and the saint’s revenge of wet weather. It wasn’t much better than her usual attempts at verse, but it showed her sense of humour was still alive although she was fading fast.

  During Jane’s last forty-eight hours she slept a great deal. She knew she was dying half an hour before she lost consciousness. She said she could not tell her listeners what she was suffering. When Cassandra asked her whether there was anything she wanted, she replied, ‘Nothing but death.’ She also said, God grant me patience. Pray for me, oh pray for me.’ She lay gently breathing, her head almost off the bed. Cassandra sat beside her with a pillow on her lap for six hours, supporting her. Mary took over for the next two and a half hours until Cassandra came back for the last hour. There was nothing convulsed about Jane’s dying look, except for a restless motion of the head. She reminded her sister of a beautiful statue. On Friday 18 July 1817 she died in Cassandra’s arms and Cassandra closed her eyes. In her coffin she had an appearance of sweet serenity.

  Cassandra copied out communal prayers composed by Jane, which beg forgiveness for ‘every fault of temper and every evil habit in which we have indulged to the discomfort of our fellow creatures and the danger of our own souls’. She also prayed for grace to seek a ‘temper of forbearance and patience … to be severe only in the examination of our own conduct, to consider our fellow-creatures with kindness and to judge of all they say and do with that charity which we would desire from them ourselves.’ Jane’s Christianity was sincere. If she was not always charitable, she was convinced she should strive to be so. She liked Bishop Sherlock’s sermons, which emphasize self-knowledge. She owned a book probably given her at confirmation, A Companion to the Altar: showing the Nature and Necessity of a Sacramental Preparation in Order to our worthy Receiving the Holy Communion, to which are added Prayers and Meditations.

  Cassandra wrote to Fanny Knight, thanking her for her tact and sensitivity in sending amusing letters when her feelings about Jane’s illness would have dictated something very different. She assured Fanny that Jane had indeed enjoyed them. ‘I have lost a treasure, such a sister, such a friend as never can have been surpassed. She was the sun of my life, the gilder of every pleasure, the soother of every sorrow. I had not a thought concealed from her, and it is as if I had lost a part of myself.’

  Cassandra cut off some locks of Jane’s hair, offering Fanny the choice of a brooch or a ring. Fanny had the hair set in an oval brooch, bearing simply Jane’s name and the date of her death. Cassandra had hers set in a ring with pearls and wore it ever after. She sent a lock to Miss Sharp with a pair of clasps Jane sometimes wore and a small bodkin Jane had used for more than twenty years. Other locks went to other members of the family. Cassandra gave Jane’s topaz cross, Charles’s gift, to Martha. Henry wrote obituaries for the newspapers, listing her four published novels. It took Anna a long while to forget the habit of keeping things to tell Aunt Jane.

  Jane loved Winchester’s magnificent cathedral and had asked the Dean and Chapter if she could be buried inside it. She was buried there on 24 July, in the north aisle, near the black marble Norman font, and almost opposite the chantry of William of Wykeham (1323 [?]—1404), Lord Chancellor of England and Bishop of Wi
nchester, founder of Winchester College. A chantry is an endowment for the celebration of masses for the soul of the founder, and the chapel or altar set aside for them.

  The funeral had to take place early, for the cathedral service began at ten o’clock. Jane’s brothers Edward, Henry and Frank attended. Charles was away and James, unwell himself, was represented by James-Edward. Cassandra watched the mournful little procession down the length of the street until it turned from her sight and she had lost her only sister for ever. In some families women did not go to funerals. ‘Never was human being more sincerely mourned… than this dear creature,’ she wrote, hoping that the sorrow of those who loved her sister might be a measure of the joy with which she would be welcomed in Heaven. Cassandra always spoke of Jane with active love.

  A plain black slab in the stone floor of the north aisle marks her grave. It reads:

  In memory of JANE AUSTEN, youngest daughter of the late Revd GEORGE AUSTEN, formerly Rector of Steventon in this county. She departed this life on the 18th of July 1817 aged 41, after a long illness supported with the patience and the hopes of a Christian. The benevolence of her heart, the sweetness of her temper, and the extraordinary endowments of her mind obtained the regard of all who knew her, and the warmest love of her intimate connections. Their grief is in proportion to their affection, they know their loss to be irreparable, but in their deepest affliction they are consoled by a firm though humble hope that her charity, devotion, faith and purity, have rendered her soul acceptable in the sight of her REDEEMER.

  By the 1850s, her grave was attracting pilgrims. Because it made no mention of her writings, a puzzled verger asked one visitor, 'Pray, sir, can you tell me whether there was anything particular about that lady; so many people want to know where she was buried?’

  Early in the twentieth century a brass wall-plaque was added, funded by the profits from James-Edward’s Memoir, It says, JANE AUSTEN, known to many by her writings, endeared to her family by the varied charms of her characters and ennobled by Christian faith and piety, was born at Steventon …, giving dates and quoting Proverbs 31: 26: ‘She openeth her mouth with wisdom and in her tongue is the law of kindness.’ Above is a memorial window featuring St Augustine, who used to be familiarly known as ‘Austin’, King David playing his harp, and St John (Tn the beginning was the word…’).

  For the nephews and nieces who continued to visit Mrs Austen, Cassandra and Martha, in their own words, the chief light in the house was quenched and the loss of it cast a shade over the spirits of the survivors. In 1827 Mrs Austen died; the following year Martha Lloyd, aged sixty-four, married Frank. Cassandra lived on alone until 1845, dying at Frank’s house in Portsmouth. She bequeathed Jane’s gold watch and chain to their brother Henry.

  Jane’s will was proved on 10 September. As it was unwitnessed, Harriet Palmer and her father had to swear to the signature. Jane’s funeral had cost £92. After this expense had been met and the legacies to Henry and Madame Bigeon deducted, Cassandra inherited the total wealth of England’s first great and justly celebrated woman writer. It amounted to £561 2s and was taxed at three per cent.

  In 1832 the publisher Bentley reprinted Jane’s books in his ‘Standard novels’ series, buying the copyrights for a total of £250. They were reprinted occasionally, but during the nineteenth century Jane’s novels remained a minority taste. The family considered them a private possession, unlikely to appeal to outsiders. In 1843 the Foreign and Colonial Quarterly Review mentioned her favourably. Anna copied out the article and sent it to Cassandra, who found it highly gratifying to her feelings and proof that Jane’s novels possessed intrinsic merit.

  In 1818 the Cambridge University Library, although a copyright library entitled to claim everything published in Britain, rejected as unimportant works by Ludwig van Beethoven and by Jane Austen. Between 1817 and 1870 there was only one complete edition of Jane’s works. Since then, there have been countless editions, film and television versions, and endless commentaries and critiques. Since her death, Jane’s work has made millions for other people. As early as 1930 one of her letters fetched £1,000 and by the mid-1980s a collector paid £900 for a mere scrap of her handwriting.

  Sir Walter Scott wrote of Jane in his diary, ‘What a pity such a gifted creature died so early!’ In her lifetime the product of her hand and brain was poorly and grudgingly rewarded.

  Selective Bibliography

  Adams, Samuel and Sarah, The Complete Servant (London, 1825; repr Lewes, 1989)

  Armstrong, A, Church of England, the Methodists and Society 1700-1800 (London, 1973)

  Austen, Caroline Mary Craven, My Aunt Jane Austen (Alton, 1952) ______Reminiscences of Caroline Austen (Alton, 1986)

  Austen, Jane, Letters, ed Deirdre Le Faye (Oxford and New York, 1995)

  Austen-Leigh, Emma, Jane Austen and Lyme Regis (London, 1946)

  ______Jane Austen and Steventon (London, 1937)

  Austen-Leigh, J E, Memoir of Jane Austen (Oxford, 1926)

  Austen-Leigh, Mary Augusta, Personal Aspects of Jane Austen (London, 1920)

  Austen-Leigh, Richard Arthur, Jane Austen and Southampton (London, 1949) Austen-Leigh, William, and Richard Arthur Austen-Leigh, Austen Papers,

  1704-1856 (privately printed, London, 1942)

  ______revised by Deirdre Le Faye, Jane Austen: A Family Record (London, 1989)

  Awdry, F, A Country Gentleman of the Nineteenth Century (Winchester, 1906)

  Baring-Pemberton, W, William Cobbett (Harmondsworth, 1949)

  Bovill, E W, English Country Life 1770-1830 (Oxford, 1962)

  Briggs, Asa, How They Lived 1700-1815 (Oxford, 1969)

  Brown, F K, Fathers of the Victorians (Cambridge, 1961)

  Bussby, Frederick, Jane Austen in Winchester (Winchester, 1991)

  Butler, Marilyn, Jane Austen and the War of Ideas (Oxford, 1975)

  Byrde, Penelope, A Frivolous Distinction (Bath, 1979)

  Castronovo, David, The English Gentleman (New York, 1987)

  Chapman, R W, Jane Austen Facts and Problems (Oxford, 1949)

  Collins, Irene, Jane Austen and the Clergy (London, 1993)

  Craik, Wendy, Jane Austen in Her Time (London, 1969)

  Devlin, D D, Jane Austen and Education (London, 1975)

  Duckworth, AM, The Improvement of Estate (Baltimore, 1971)

  Edwards, Anne-Marie, In the Steps of Jane Austen (London, 1979)

  Fordyce, Revd James, Sermons to Young Women, 2 vols (3rd edn, London, 1766)

  Freeman, J, Jane Austen in Bath (Alton, 1969)

  Freeman, Kathleen, TVther Miss Austen (London, 1956)

  Gilson, David, A Bibliography of Jane Austen (Oxford, 1982)

  Gisborne, Revd Thomas, Inquiry into the Duties of the Female Sex (London, 1796)

  Grey, J D (ed), The Jane Austen Handbook (London, 1986)

  Grosvenor Myer, Valerie, Jane Austen in Her Age (Glasgow, 1980)

  Hawkridge, Audrey, Jane Austen and Hampshire (Portsmouth, 1995)

  Heideloff, Nikiaus Wilhelm von, Gallery of Fashion (London, 1949)

  Hill, Constance, Jane Austen: Her Homes and Her Friends (London and New York, 1902)

  Hodge, Jane Aiken, The Double Life of Jane Austen (New York, 1972)

  Honan, Park, Jane Austen: Her Life (New York, 1987)

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  Jaeger, Muriel, Before Victoria (London, 1956)

  Jenkins, Elizabeth, Jane Austen: A Biography (London, 1938)

  Kirkham, Margaret, Jane Austen, Feminism and Fiction (Brighton and Totowa, 1983)

  Lane, Maggie, Jane Austen and Food (London, 1995)

  _____Jane Austens England (London, 1986)

  ______Jane Austens Family Through Five Generations (London, 1984)

  Laski, Marghanita, Jane Austen and Her World (New York, 1969)

  McMaster, Juliet (ed), Jane Austens Achievement (London, 1976)

  Marshall, Dorothy, English People in the Eighteenth Century (Harlow, 1956)
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  Monaghan, David, Jane Austen in a Social Context (London and Totowa, 1981)

  Parker, Rozsika, The Subversive Stitch (New York, 1984)

  Phillipps, K C, Jane Austens English (London, 1970)

  Pilgrim, C, Dear Jane: A Biographical Study of Jane Austen (London, 1971)

  Pine, Richard, The Dandy and the Herald (Basingstoke, 1988)

  Pinion, FB, Jane Austen Companion (New York, 1973)

  Pool, Daniel, What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew (New York, 1993)

  Porter, Roy, English Society in the Eighteenth Century (Harmondsworth, 1982)

  Priestley, J B, The Prince of Pleasure and His Regency 1811-20 (London, 1969)

  Smithers, Sir David Waldron, Jane Austen in Kent (Westerham, 1981)

  Southam, B C (ed), Jane Austen: The Critical Heritage (London, 1968)

  Tindal Hart, A, The Curate’s Lot (London, 1970)

  Todd, Janet (ed), Jane Austen: New Perspectives (New York and London, 1983)

  Trench, Melesina, Remains (London, 1869)

  Tucker, George Holbert, Jane Austen the Woman (New York, 1994)

  ______A Goodly Heritage: A History of Jane Austen’s Family (Manchester, 1983)

  Watson, Winifred, Jane Austen in London (Alton, 1960)

  Weinsheimer, Joel (ed), Jane Austen Today (Athens, Georgia, 1975)

  West, Jane, Letters to a Young Woman (London, 1806)

  White, Gilbert, The Natural History ofSelborne (London, 1789, repr 1887)

  White, R J, Life in Regency England (London, 1963)

  Wilson, Margaret, Almost Another Sister (West Mailing, 1990)

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  Young, Arthur, Autobiography, with Selections from His Correspondence (ed M Betham Edwards, privately printed, n d)